In the past, automotive vehicles, such as, for example, automobiles, were provided with a mirror, mounted within the interior of the passenger compartment, by which the vehicle operator (driver) could obtain a view rearwardly directed of such vehicle. Such interior mounted rear view mirror was intended to enable the vehicle driver to see whether a following vehicle was in the act of passing or if the roadway, to the driver's side, was clear of vehicles thereby making it safe for that driver to, for example, pass another leading vehicle.
Subsequently, additional rear view mirrors were placed on automotive vehicles in order to expand the driver's field of view and thereby increase safety. The first of such additional mirrors was placed on the left side of the vehicle (the driver's side), externally thereof, and situated as to enable the driver to look into the mirror to obtain a better rearward view of the roadway generally to the left of the vehicle. The second of such additional mirrors was placed on the right side of the vehicle (the front passenger's side), externally thereof, and situated as to enable the driver to look into that mirror to obtain a rearward view of the roadway generally to the right of the vehicle.
The interior (or inside) mirror is, generally, the driver's primary rear view mirror; however, the viewing angle of such inside mirror is significantly limited so that relatively large areas, to both sides of the vehicle, remain unseen by the driver. (Such unseen areas may be considered as "blind zones".) Therefore, if the driver relies exclusively on the inside mirror (for providing a rear view), another vehicle, which is not within the peripheral vision of the driver, may actually be within such a blind zone and, consequently, not seen by the driver who, then, may conclude that there is no other vehicle. Such an erroneous conclusion, in turn, may result in both bodily and property injuries if the driver should execute a vehicular maneuver which is inconsistent with the actual vehicular traffic conditions. The prior art, in an attempt to remedy the aforestated conditions and problems, added the said left and right external (outside) mirrors to enlarge the driver's rearward field of view and not require the driver to turn the driver's head far to the left or far to the right in an attempt to determine whether any other vehicles were within such blind zones.
Generally, it has been accepted practice to have the right outside mirror of a convex configuration so as to still further expand the rearward field of view for the driver. However, because of such convex configuration, even though the field of view is expanded, the objects appearing in the mirror appear smaller than they would otherwise appear, for example, in a flat plane mirror. Consequently, the right outside mirror, of convex configuration, may be used by the driver to discern the presence of an object, or other vehicle, to the right side of the vehicle (or in the roadway lane to the right of the vehicle) but cannot be readily and reliably employed by the driver to accurately determine the relative distance of such other vehicle.
Also, it has been accepted practice to have the left outside (driver's side of vehicle) mirror of a planar (flat plane) configuration. Because of such planar configuration, the left outside mirror can be employed for reliably judging the distance of other vehicles rearwardly thereof. Often the driver employs the left outside mirror in an attempt to see if any other vehicle is within the blind zone (generally to the left and rearwardly of the driver's vehicle) which exists because of the limitations of the said inside mirror. However, this is a dangerous practice because of the left outside mirror (of only single flat plane configuration) still leaves a blind zone in which another vehicle may be situated and therefore not be visible to the driver even though the driver may believe to the contrary. The prior art has attempted to solve this problem by adding a relatively small convex mirror onto the otherwise single plane left outside mirror. As an example of such prior art, a 1.5 to 2.0 inches diameter convex mirror may be suitably attached to the surface of the single plane left outside mirror as with an adhesive. However, such "add-on" convex mirrors do not really solve the problems in that the distance of another vehicle, viewed in the "add-on" convex mirror, cannot be readily accurately determined and, further, such "add-on" convex mirror reduces the field of view of the flat plane mirror to which it is attached.
Accordingly, the invention herein disclosed is primarily directed to the problems created by prior art rear view mirror blind zones and to the solution thereof as well as other related and attendant problems.